PROLIFIC METH DISTRIBUTOR GETS SEVEN YEAR PRISON TERM
Judge Admonishes Mexican National Not to Return to U.S. Following Deportation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 25, 2008

JOHNSON GONZALEZ-MARTINEZ, 32, of Everett, Washington, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 87 months in prison and five years of supervised release for Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine. GONZALEZ-MARTINEZ is a Mexican national who will be deported following his prison term. At sentencing U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman told him, “You are not going to be welcome back in the U.S. The temptation to return to friends and family is great. But the penalties for returning for drug defendants are severe. I encourage you to make your home in Mexico.”

From September 2006, to July 2007, GONZALEZ-MARTINEZ conspired with others to distribute methamphetamine in Snohomish County. According to records filed in the case, on multiple occasions GONZALEZ-MARTINEZ provided significant quantities of methamphetamine to an undercover officer. GONZALEZ-MARTINEZ made the drug sales on September 15, 20, and 29, 2006, and November 10, 2006. In addition GONZALEZ-MARTINEZ obtained pound quantities of methamphetamine from sources in eastern Washington for distribution in the Seattle and Bellingham areas. On July 19, 2007, GONZALEZ-MARTINEZ picked up a pound of methamphetamine from a contact in Everett, Washington. As he left the Everett apartment, GONZALEZ-MARTINEZ’s car was stopped by police and he was arrested.

Asking the court for a significant sentence, Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Vogel pointed out that GONZALEZ-MARTINEZ was the “central hub of a large meth distribution ring.... This distribution supported a criminal lifestyle that went on for a long period of time. GONZALEZ-MARTINEZ caused others to become involved in drug dealing, including his young wife.”

Prior to the investigation of his drug dealing, GONZALEZ-MARTINEZ was shot in the head apparently during previous drug activity. Citing that injury to the cognitive ability of GONZALEZ-MARTINEZ, Judge Pechman imposed a sentence at the low end of the guidelines range, just over seven years in prison. The sentence is two years longer than those imposed on other defendants who played lesser roles in the drug distribution ring.

This was an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation, providing supplemental federal funding to the federal and state agencies involved. The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the South Snohomish County Narcotics Task Force (SSCNTF). The SSCNTF includes officers from Lynnwood Police, Edmonds Police, and Mountlake Terrace Police.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Vogel. For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office, at (206) 553-4110.